Lollipop2000 said:
Chad
I have always had a question about the crucifixion. People say that God sacrificed His only Son on the cross for the sake of the people.. to forgive their sins. But the person who suffered on the cross wasn't the soul of Jesus (which is God), it was the flesh of Jesus (which belongs to Mary). So on that day, I think Mary was the one who sacrificed her son.. because the flesh was lost. But the soul returned to God.. so what did God lose by this?
A Christian guy once told me that after the crucifixtion, the soul fo Jesus (i.e. God) went to Hell for 3 days to suffer there for the sake of Christians. Is that common belief among Christians? If so, then the 3 days in Hell were God's sacrifice, and the crucifixtion was Mary's sacrifice. If there were no 3 days in Hell, then I want to know what God's loss was.
Another question is that Jesus used to pray to God and before the crucifixtion he prayed for God to let the cup pass from him (I think that's what he said) which means Jesus didn't want to be crucified. Also on the cross, he shouted "Eli Eli lama sabachthani" (My Lord, My Lord why hast thou forsaken me?). So why was he shouting if he wanted to be cruficied for the sake of the people? It looks like he didn't want it. And why would God Himself (in the body of Jesus) be praying to God Himself (up in Heaven) and God Himself was also wandering around as the Holy Ghost at the same time, wasn't He? What's the point of someone pleading to Himself?
John 1
The Word Became Flesh
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.
Matthew Henry Commentary:
Verses 1-5 The plainest reason why the Son of God is called the Word, seems to be, that as our words explain our minds to others, so was the Son of God sent in order to reveal his Father's mind to the world. What the evangelist says of Christ proves that he is God. He asserts, His existence in the beginning; His coexistence with the Father. The Word was with God. All things were made by him, and not as an instrument. Without him was not any thing made that was made, from the highest angel to the meanest worm. This shows how well qualified he was for the work of our redemption and salvation. The light of reason, as well as the life of sense, is derived from him, and depends upon him. This eternal Word, this true Light shines, but the darkness comprehends it not. Let us pray without ceasing, that our eyes may be opened to behold this Light, that we may walk in it; and thus be made wise unto salvation, by faith in Jesus Christ
Matthew 27:46 (King James Version)
46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew Henry Commentary:
Verses 45-50 During the three hours which the darkness continued, Jesus was in agony, wrestling with the powers of darkness, and suffering his Father's displeasure against the sin of man, for which he was now making his soul an offering. Never were there three such hours since the day God created man upon the earth, never such a dark and awful scene; it was the turning point of that great affair, man's redemption and salvation. Jesus uttered a complaint from psalms 22:1 . Hereby he teaches of what use the word of God is to direct us in prayer, and recommends the use of Scripture expressions in prayer. The believer may have tasted some drops of bitterness, but he can only form a very feeble idea of the greatness of Christ's sufferings. Yet, hence he learns something of the Saviour's love to sinners; hence he gets deeper conviction of the vileness and evil of sin, and of what he owes to Christ, who delivers him from the wrath to come. His enemies wickedly ridiculed his complaint. Many of the reproaches cast upon the word of God and the people of God, arise, as here, from gross mistakes. Christ, just before he expired, spake in his full strength, to show that his life was not forced from him, but was freely delivered into his Father's hands. He had strength to bid defiance to the powers of death: and to show that by the eternal Spirit he offered himself, being the Priest as well as the Sacrifice, he cried with a loud voice. Then he yielded up the ghost. The Son of God upon the cross, did die by the violence of the pain he was put to. His soul was separated from his body, and so his body was left really and truly dead. It was certain that Christ did die, for it was needful that he should die. He had undertaken to make himself an offering for sin, and he did it when he willingly gave up his life